AFK Arena · Hero

Pippa

Whimsical Headmistress

🌿Wilders🔮MageAwakened🔮MagicalBurst DamageAwakened

Wilders, Mage

Stats Stats at any level →

HP882707

ATK57028

DEF10166

Magic Resist10166

Profile

Pippa woke with a gasp, choking on a mouthful of damp, fishy moss. This wasn't the musty scent of old parchment from the Astral Academy. She pushed herself upright, only to bump into something furry. "Pippa! You're finally awake!" Raku flopped down beside her. "You were flickering all over just now, like a firefly with a loose connection!" Pippa blinked in confusion. Above her was not a stone dome, but the tangled canopy of the Dark Forest. The principal's ceremonial robe that symbolized the highest authority now marred by burrs, its collar pulled crooked by snagging branches. "Pippa!" Peggy peered out from behind a tree. "Where did you even get that outfit? Are you holding a meeting for acorns in a mud pit?" Instinctively, Pippa raised her hand. A perfectly formed magic circle blossomed beneath her feet. Burrs and clumps of mud peeled away, floating neatly into the air before settling into a tidy pile of leaves. Her robes became crisp once more, and even the brim of her hat smoothed itself. Raku and Peggy both froze. "Whoa... did your spell just level up?" Raku's eyes went wide. "Back then, when you flicked your wand, even the trees would start sneezing!" Pippa blurted out, "I am... wait a moment. Why are you two slacking off in the woods during class ? You're going to get demerits!" Worry flickered in Peggy's eyes. "You didn't hit your head, did you? You're staring like some grumpy old lady who does nothing but drink black tea and meddle in others' business!" Pippa froze for a moment. In the end, the words "I am the headmistress of the Astral Academy" never left her lips. "How..." Pippa pushed Raku's big head aside. "How did I even pass out?" "Obviously because you brought up that old story about getting kicked out of the Astral Academy, and you got so mad you fainted," Raku clapped his paws together. "We had just gotten to the part where they confiscated your wand and you swore you would turn the whole academy into mushrooms." Pippa felt a wave of dizziness. There truly had been such a day in her memory. An accident, accusations, and standing on the brink of expulsion. Yet the former headmaster had never sent her back to the forest. The two before her seemed to take her for that "Pippa who had been sent back to the Dark Forest." She lowered her gaze to the exquisite ceremonial robe, a symbol of how she had put away her mischief and carried herself with restraint to be worthy of the headmistress's role. Now, in this stretch of forest, it looked painfully out of place. And so, for the rest of the day, Pippa could only play along with this mistaken identity. Raku eagerly dragged her along to inspect a tree hollow stuffed with oranges, something she had no memory of at all, and she nearly got her hand bitten by a badger inside. Peggy fed her candy as she talked, relentlessly railing against the Astral Academy. "Those idiots only saw that you blew up half a tower, but they could not understand how brilliant the antigravity spell that made it fly really was." She had been doubted before, but no one had ever defended her with such unapologetic conviction. Pippa slowed to a stop, watching the sunset wash the forest in shades of gold and crimson. Then, she asked softly, "So, what did I do after I was sent back?" Peggy snorted. "What else? You cried your eyes out, and then went straight back to the forest to keep experimenting." Raku nodded eagerly, pressing a warm acorn into her palm. "Pippa! We'll always be with you! Even if you turn into a mushroom... we'll still stay by your side!" She held the rough acorn as a bittersweet feeling quietly welled up in her chest. Once, she had let vines overrun a classroom and sent the head of the academy founder's statue flying with a tornado. The worst incident of all was when she turned the former headmaster's prized collection into acorns. For that, those stiff, pedantic scholars had shown her little mercy. They even submitted a joint petition demanding that Pippa be expelled and sent back to the Dark Forest to live on acorns. But the former headmaster never blamed her. "You don't belong elsewhere. You simply haven't found your path yet." From then on, under countless watchful eyes, she slowly learned to rein in her mischief and play the role of the exemplary figure others expected her to be. By the time she finally stood upon the podium doubt gave way to awe. And on the day the former headmaster retired, the staff passed into her hands as a matter of course. Life grew busier after that. Each day, she traveled between the academy and the capital, while her ties to the Dark Forest faded, delayed letters stretching the distance between them. "If they had really expelled me from the academy back then..." The answer was obvious. She was just about to reach out and pull the two of them into her arms when a violent tug suddenly yanked at her from behind. Her vision shuddered like plucked strings, tree shadows warped and stretched, and a burst of white light swallowed the sound of the wind. When the weightlessness vanished, the soil beneath her feet had turned to cold marble. "Miss Headmistress? You're finally... back to normal?" Pippa opened her eyes. She was standing in the headmaster's office at the Astral Academy. The familiar star-patterned dome, bookshelves, and instruments surrounded her. Her assistant, holding a tall stack of documents, looked at her with a mixture of fear and relief. "That was truly avant-garde just now," the assistant said cautiously. "Your eyes went blank during the teleportation array, then you burned the academy badge... apparently to bless tonight's roast chicken with rosemary..." Pippa scratched her head. The acorn from the Dark Forest was still clutched in her hand, still warm. In the days that followed, these "distortions" became increasingly frequent. Raku kept shoving wild berries into her mouth while she researched potions. She would wake from her afternoon nap to find Peggy sulking over a lost game. She and her other self kept swapping moments of time uncontrollably, often turning serious situations into comical chaos. Late one busy night, an impulse surged within her: she had to find a reliable way to see her friends on the other side. In the classroom, Pippa traced the magic circle that kept appearing in her mind. As the arcana swirled, the portal she expected failed to appear. Time seemed frozen. The owl hovered mid-air, the bell had stopped ringing, and even the candlelight hung still. "Did I... just invent a freeze magic?" she muttered, laughing nervously. In the silence, two voices spoke, one after the other. "Traversing between two timelines... neither in conflict nor under control." Another chuckled. "Heh, standing on two sets of rules at once. What a troublesome little anchor." Pippa instinctively raised her hand. "Are you talking about me? Let me make it clear: any experimental accidents have nothing to do with the Astral Academy." The calm voice ignored her interruption. "The deviation has been created, but the rift cannot be closed. The hidden orchestrator is watching." "It sounds... kind of impressive?" Pippa muttered under her breath. "Pippa. Will you continue recklessly tearing open the rift, or will you help us find 'it'?" "Every time you traverse timelines, you leave a trace," the voice said, amusement lacing the words. "These are clues for us... and weaknesses 'it' could exploit." "You've confirmed this thread of time exists," the calm voice continued, "The next step is to return to the beginning. Observe those distortions, record them, and speak to us when the time comes." After a flash of light, the owl swooped on its prey, and the clock tower struck midnight. Time resumed. The classroom lay empty, Pippa standing alone in the center of the unfinished magic circle. Countless thoughts flooded her mind, and she felt herself passively drawn into a game of chess she could not control. Pippa sighed, dispelled the magic circle, folded the parchment that had recorded the conversation into a paper crane, and tucked it between the old books on the upper shelves. The "distortions" seemed to have vanished. Life returned to its usual rhythm, and the Astral Academy continued to experience its daily mix of minor explosions and grand laughter. Only, Headmistress Pippa had implemented some "minor" reforms: she set up a Wall of Glorious Failures to display foolish yet fascinating experimental debris, introduced a mandatory Safe-Failure course, and ensured that troublemakers were no longer stuffed into the expulsion review room. Instead, she dragged them off to experiment with what else a fireball spell could roast besides crucibles. She no longer repeated rigid doctrines. Instead, she returned to her true nature, quietly bringing the unfinished paths of the forest into the Astral Academy. At dusk, she would always gaze toward the distant Dark Forest, wondering if Raku was secretly eating experimental materials again, or if Peggy was grumbling about her robes being ugly while adjusting her hat brim. In her own timeline, they might be strangers, but as long as the memory remained, their connection would never be severed. It was the start of another school year. The Astral Academy's auditorium gleamed with candlelight. Pippa stood at the podium, set down her wand, and raised an unpolished acorn. "Life is a bit like searching for acorns in a forest after a blizzard," her voice echoed beneath the dome. "People will tell you it's safer to follow in the footsteps of those before you, that you won't get lost that way." She paused for a moment and looked out at the young wizards and witches in the audience, excited yet slightly uneasy, as if seeing her own muddled but joyful self reflected in them. "But if you only follow in others' footsteps, you won't get to taste anything." She closed her fingers around the acorn. "So choose the path you truly want to walk. Even if you stumble or get lost. As long as you follow your heart, you'll find the acorn meant for you." Thunderous applause filled the hall. Pippa instinctively glanced toward the corner of the auditorium, and for a fleeting moment, she saw a plump raccoon lying on a mushroom making faces at her, while a spirited young princess leaned against a tree trunk, waving a conch shell at her. She blinked. There was nothing there. Only a beam of slanting sunlight passed through the stained glass, falling on the acorn she clutched tightly, gleaming like a tiny shooting star.